Conveyer



2 SHEETSSHEET 2"- G. H. ROSE.

CONVEYER- FILED uov.s. 1921.

Mar.. 6, 1923.

Patented Mar. 6, 1923.

1,447,326 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

GEORGE E. BOSE, OF BEN AVON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN STEEL AND WIRE COMPANY OF NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CONVEYER.

Application filed. November 5, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonon H. Rose, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Ben Avon, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Conveyers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to conveyers and more particularly to endless conveyers used in handling coils or coiled bundles of wire rods, wire and like annular articles, and has for one of its objects the provision of a conveyer having novel means whereby the bundles or coils are picked up and carried to a predetermined point and are discharged or unloaded from the conveyer at such point.

Another object of my invention is the provision in an automatic conveyer of improved construction having a tilting hook and having novel means for automatically releasing the hook and returning thetilted hook into its bundle engaging position.

A further object of the invention is to provide a conveyer having the novel constructions, arrangements and combination of parts described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a rod reeling machine and bundle conveyer embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic top plan of the same.

Figure 3 is an enlarged side elevation of a portion of the hook conveyer shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 41 is a sectional elevation taken on the line IV-IV of Figure 3.

Referring particularly to the drawings, the lettter A designates a rod reeling mechanism as a whole, which is provided with a plurality of reels 2, each of which is adapted to receive and reel rods 3 from a rod rolling mill B into coils or bundles C. An endless conveyor 4, positioned alongside the reeling mechanism A, is arranged to receive the coils or bundles of rods, from the reels 2. The conveyor 4 extends beyond the reeling mechanism A and has its extended end inclined upwardly as at 5 and is further humped up as at 6 for a purpose to be described.

A second endless conveyer D which has Serial No. 513,177.

one end overlapping the upwardly inclined end of the conveyer 4, is adapted to receive and handle the bundles or coils as received from the conveyer 1. The endless conveyer D comprises an overhead track 7 on which a plurality of trolleys 8 are mounted. The trolleys 8 include a body portion 9 and a trolley wheel 10 which is journaled on a shaft 01' pin 11 mounted in the upper end of the body portion 9.

The lower end of the body portion 9 has a double sided link member 12 secured thereon and depending therefrom, and a hook member 13 is pivotally secured between the parallel sides of the link 12 adjacent to its lower end on a pivot pin 14. The hook 13 comprises a curved bundle carilying portion 15 and a locking arm portion A retaining latch 17 is pivotally mounted on a pivot pin 18 adjacent to the upper end of the link 12 and is adapted to engage the upper end of the locking arm 16 of the hook 13 to lock the hook in operative or bundle carrying position. The latch 17, which comprises a heavy counterbalancing nose portion 19 forward of the pivot pin 18, has a downwardly projecting end 20 ar ranged to operatively engagewvith the upper end of the arm 16 of the hook 13 and also has a pair of tripping lugs 2121 of which one projects from each side thereof at the rear of the pivot 18. The weight of the latch 17 is so distributed that the nose portion 19 overbalances the portion to the rear of the pivot and tends to maintain the latch in position to engage and hold the locking arm' 16 of the. hook in its upright position.

A tripping dog or finger 23 is secured to the track 7 at any desired point in the length thereof and projects downwardly into the path of the tripping lugs 21 of the latch, this finger 23 being adapted to engage the lugs 21 as the trolley and hook are caused to travel past the same, in this way tripping the latch and releasing the hook 13, carrying a bundle of rods, which will be overbalanced by its load and swung downwardly and therebydischarging its load.

The trolleys 8 are arranged to be propelled along the continuous track 7 by an endless cable 25 which is trained around sheaves 26 and 27 at the respective ends of the track 7 The sheave 26 is positively driven, being actuated through gearing 28 by any desired prime mover (not shown) while the sheave 27 is an idler. The trolleys 8 are secured, by cable clamps 29, at suitably spaced distances on the cable 25.

The hooks 13 are adapted to be returned to operative position after discharging their load, by means of a return bar 30 secured across endless sprocket chains 31 which are trained over pairs of suitable sprockets 33 and 34 on shafts 36 and 37, respectively. The shaft 36 and sprockets 33 are on a lower plane than the shaft 37 and sprockets 34, and, therefore, the chains 31 and bar 30 travel in an upwardly inclined path.

The chains 31 may be driven by applying power to the shaft 37 in any desired manner (not shown). The chains 31 are driven at a speed which is a multiple of the speed of the conveyer trolleys, and the length of the chains is the same ratio to the distance between the trolleys -8 as the speed of the chain is to the speed of the trolleys, the object being that the chains 31 must make .a complete revolution while a trolley is passing along a distance equal to the distance center to center of the trolleys. An example of the above is, ifthe chains 31 are driven at twice the speed of the trolleys, then the length ofthe chains will equal the distance between the trolleys so that they will make one complete revolution while the trolley is passing along the distance equal tween the trolleys.

The chains 31 and trolleys 8 are so timed that the bar 30 will advance toward the hook 13 when the carrying portion 15 is in the path of the bar, so that the bar 30 will engage the portion 15 of the hook 13 and tilt or rock the hook about its pivot 14 until its locking arm is forced under the nose 19. of the latch 17.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: After a rod has been formed into a coil or bundle C by one of the reels 2, the bundle is pulled from the reel upon the conveyer 4. When one of the bundles C reaches the hump portion 6 of the conveyer 4 it will extend or project upwardly into the path of the hooks 13 of the conveyer D. As has been stated, the books 13 of the conveyer D are supported by the trolleys running on the continuous track 7 and the trolleys are propelled along the track by the endless cable 25.

A bundle of the rods will remain in place on the hump 6 of the conveyer 4 until a hook 15 on one of the trolleys 8 passes the hump 6 and the hook, in traveling past a bundle C, on the hump 6, will automaticallv engage with and lift the bundle from the conveyer 4 and carry it along on the con veyer D.

As the loaded or bundle carrying hook 13 to the distance beit passes into the path of the return bar 30 which will engage the arm portion 15 of the hook and rock the hook about its pivot 14 until .thelocking arm is again in position under the nose 19 of the latch 17, in this way the hooks being automatically returned to operative 0r bundle holding position.

It will be understood that While one specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described I do not'wish to be limited thereto, since various modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim 1. A conveyer comprising in combination an endless track, a plurality of trolleys on said track, an endless trolley actuating cable connecting said trolleys and trained over sheaves at opposite ends of said track, a tilting hook carried by each trolley adapted to tilt when tripped, means for locking said hook in operative position, a tripping dog secured to said track and adapted to trip the hooks moved into engagementtherewith, and means separate and apart from said hook and said trolley adapted to engage with and lift said hook up into operative position without interrupting the travel of said hook and its trolle 2. The com ination witllaconveyer trolley having a I pivoted hook member thereon, a latch member adapted to normally hold said hook in raised position, and means for tripping said latch member to permit said hook to swing downwardly, of means separate and apart from and mounted below said trolley adapted to engage said hook and move it upwardly into engagement with said latch member without interrupting the travel of said trolley.

3. The combination with a conveyer trolley having a pivoted hook member thereon,

a latch member adapted to normally hold said hook in raised position, and means for tripping said latch member to permit said hook to swing downwardly, of means separate and apart from said hook and said trolley adapted to engage said hook and move it upwardly, said means comprising a transverse barmember, means for supporting and moving said bar into the path of travel of endless positively driven cable connecting arranged to release said latch and permit 10 said trolleys, said cable being trained over said hook to tilt, and means separate and sheaves at opposite ends of said track, a apart from said hook adapted to engage tilting hook on each trolleyadapted to tilt with and lift said hook up into operative 5 to discharge its load, a pivoted latch mountposition Without interrupting the travel of ed on said trolley adapted to lock the hook the said hook and its trolley. 15 in operative position, a tripping dog secured In testimony whereof, I have hereunto to said track and extending into the path of signed my name. travel of said pivoted latch, said dog being GEORGE H. ROSE. 

